Pat Fischer Nissan

Central Florida charging stations into the Leaf's navigation system so he'll know where to go if he's running low on power while on the road. There aren't too many yet, but among the few is one Siemens installed to encourage electric vehicle ownership and at Nissan dealerships.

"Owning and driving this type of car requires one to think ahead and plan where they are going, how far it is, will they have enough charge to go back and forth," he said.

Giammarino, a commodity management specialist, is believed to be the first person on the Space Coast to take possession of a the nation's first mass-produced, all-electric car. Four others in Brevard will be getting their Leafs in the next two months. In June, the county saw its first Chevy Volt come to town. (That's also a plug-in car, but unlike the Leaf it gets some power from gasoline when the charge is depleted.)

That it is news when these cars arrive shows they have not yet, in the broadest consumer sense, arrived.

At this early stage, it remains to be seen how quickly this new technology takes hold with consumers and leads to the substantial philosophical and automotive mentality shifts needed to alter how and what most motorists drive.

But there are efforts to hasten that change.

President Obama wants 1 million electric vehicles, or EVs, on U.S. roadways by 2015 and is encouraging tax rebates and dealer incentives to nudge consumers in that direction. It's a tall order as auto analysts estimate there only will be 146,000 electric cars on U.S. roadways by the end of next year among the more than 230 million vehicles cars, trucks and motorcycles operating nationwide. 

Top automakers, including BMW, Ford, Honda and Toyota, are rolling out all-electric vehicles in the next two years. Some of those models will be on display this week at the Central Florida International Auto in Orlando. And slowly, some businesses are adding charging stations to accommodate electric vehicle owners. Kohl's, for example, installed one at its department store in West Melbourne.

"The popularity of electric cars will depend a lot on the education of the consumer," said Mike Antheil, executive director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy. "Limited mileage is the big bogeyman here. But the reality is that most of us don't really travel more than 30 to 50 miles in a given day."

Why electric

For Giammarino, the epiphany came in the summer of 2008 when gas was $4.25 a gallon and he was paying $125 a week to fill up his Ford Mustang. He vowed to purchase an electric car. Not a hybrid like the Toyota Prius that used both gas and electric, and not a Chevy Volt.

"I was going all the way with this," he said.

Though gas prices have fallen, concerns about spikes in prices at the pump and dependance on foreign oil remain front-line issues for many.

Speaking at a luncheon earlier this month at the Greater Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, Brian Hanrahan, director of in-home technologies and electric vehicles at Florida Power & Light, framed the argument for EVs this way: "The United States imports $1 billion of oil each day. That's a big, big number. Where is that money going? To folks that love us? Most of the folks who are getting those (billions) every day are folks that really don't care for us very much. We've got to do something about that. We have an opportunity to change that."

Electric companies could benefit financially from the shift away from gas to plug-in hybrids, especially if much of that plugging in is done at home.

In Connecticut, among the first states to get the Chevy Volt, it was estimated that utilities could get nearly $40 per month for each electric car charged there.

Consumers could see substantial economic benefits from shifting to electric cars, noted Hanrahan, who drove a Chevy Volt from South Florida to the chamber event.

Someone who drives 15,000 miles a year probably spends in the neighborhood of $350 a month on gas, he said, while for an electric vehicle the cost would be $480 for the year.

"You're talking 75 percent to 80 percent cheaper," he said.

Other alternatives

Advancements in the production of electric cars have not stalled efforts to develop high-efficiency gas vehicles that can get 50 mpg or better.

One such manufacturter is Rockledge-based Rivian Motors.

R.J. Scaringe, Rivian's founder and chief executive offer, has yet to release his much-anticipated vehicle, but he noted that the approach to building the car is not focused on any single powertrain. Initially, the vehicle will be diesel or gasoline powered, but the vehicle platform is being designed to support other powertrains, including hybrid and all-electric.

"While electric vehicles certainly make sense for many applications, they are not the end-all solution to our transportation issues," Scaringe said. "A portfolio of powertrain solutions will be needed to address the extremely wide range of consumer requirements, (which) include vehicle cost, driving range, performance, charging availability and climate."

Industry experts agree with Scaringe's take, saying there is room on the road for different technologies.

"We can see a future where vehicles powered by many different sources of energy will co-exist," said Jack Hu, co-director of the General Motors-University of Michigan Advanced Vehicle Collaborative Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"It's not an either-or situation," added Bradley Berman, editor of plugincars.com, a website that advocates for hybrid and electric cars. "We need all the possible solutions to running our vehicles on less or no petroleum."

Raising awareness

Florida is ideal for electric cars, automotive engineers say, because of its relatively flat terrain and also because lithium-ion batteries perform better in warm-weather climates.

Still, those attributes don't necessarily make electric cars an easy sell to consumers, particularly when sticker prices are often well north of $25,000.

In a recent survey of 1,716 U.S. American drivers conducted by IBM, about 40 percent said they had heard only "a little bit" about electric cars but were agreeable to the concept. However, half the respondents said they would not be willing to pay more for an electric car than a gas-powered one.

Kevin Martin, a Nissan Leaf specialist at Pat Fisher Nissan in Titusville, where Giammarino purchased his Leaf, knows he has to continue to get the word out about the electric car and explain the economics of owning one to a consumer base most familiar ? and comfortable ? with gasoline-power cars.

Martin takes his demo Leaf to various public functions in Brevard and across Central Florida to answer questions and offer test drives.

Contact Price at 321-223-0230 or wprice@floridatoday.com